The present invention generally relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a medium for making a computer execute a computer program and, more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a medium for making a computer execute a computer program, which suppress the delay of processing depending on the state of an OS (Operating System) caused by a user operation.
A BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is a system program (or a group of system routines) for controlling the basic input/output operations depending on the hardware of a personal computer and installed on its mother board as stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a flash memory for example. The operations in a personal computer to be executed from the time when the personal computer is powered on up to the time when the OS such as Windows 98 (trademark) of Microsoft Corporation starts up are all controlled by the BIOS. In addition to this BIOS, a so-called keyboard BIOS is incorporated in the keyboard controller on the mother board. Therefore, the former is referred to as a system BIOS while the latter is referred to as a keyboard BIOS. These BIOS""s and various device drivers depend on the hardware of various devices and so on, so that these BIOS""s and various device drivers are sometimes generically referred to as hardware-dependent programs or low-level system programs. The hardware-dependent programs are used herein. By the same token, the operating system is a hardware-independent high-level system program. The operating system is simply referred to as the OS herein. If an application program for executing some processing in response to the pressing of a push button by a user for example is assumed in the above-mentioned personal computer, for example, if the user presses a push button, the occurrence of an operation event for an application program is notified as follows. Namely, when the event detection routine of the keyboard BIOS operating on the personal computer detects an operation event caused by a user operation, the information about the detected event is sent to the OS operating on the personal computer and then to the associated application program through the notification means depending on the OS (for example, a Windows message if the OS is Windows 98).
However, the timing with which an operation event caused by a user operation is detected by the event detection routine of the keyboard BIOS and the associated application program is notified of the detection through the OS may be delayed by an operating state of the OS. For example, it is impossible to execute such real-time processing with a desired timing as that a still picture is captured with a desired timing from a motion picture taken by the CCD video camera or a shutter effect sound is generated in synchronization with this capturing timing.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to prevent the delay in the processing by the OS for an operator event by making hardware-dependent programs (low-level system programs) such as BIOS""s and drivers coordinately handle and complete the processing to be executed real-time in synchronization with the occurrence of an event.
In carrying out the invention and according to one aspect thereof, there is provided an information processing apparatus including: a hardware-dependent input block having a normal mode in which an event information associated with a user operation is supplied to an application program through an operating system and a quick action mode in which the event information is directly supplied to another hardware-dependent block specified by the application program; and a hardware-dependent output block for real-time controlling hardware associated with the event information upon reception of the event information directly from the hardware-dependent input block.
In carrying out the invention and according to another aspect thereof, there is provided an information processing method including the steps of: hardware-dependent inputting having a normal mode in which an event information associated with a user operation is supplied to an application program through an operating system and a quick action mode in which the event information is directly supplied to another hardware-dependent block specified by the application program; and hardware-dependent outputting for real-time controlling hardware associated with the event information upon reception of the event information directly from the hardware-dependent input block.
In carrying out the invention and according to still another aspect thereof, there is provided a recording medium for making a computer execute an information processing program including the steps of: hardware-dependent inputting having a normal mode in which an event information associated with a user operation is supplied to an application program through an operating system and a quick action mode in which the event information is directly supplied to another hardware-dependent block specified by the application program; and hardware-dependent outputting for real-time controlling hardware associated with the event information upon reception of the event information directly from the hardware-dependent input block.
In the above-mentioned information processing apparatus, the hardware-dependent input block is provided with the quick action mode for directly supplying the event information associated with a user operation to another hardware-dependent block specified by the application program, thereby controlling the hardware real-time. Consequently, the processing to be executed real-time in synchronization with the occurrence of an event can be cooperatively completed between hardware-dependent programs such as BIOS""s and drivers.
In the above-mentioned information processing method and recording medium, the hardware-dependent input processing step is provided with the quick action mode for directly supplying the event information associated with a user operation to another hardware-dependent block specified by the application program, thereby controlling the hardware real-time. Consequently, the processing to be executed real-time in synchronization with the occurrence of an event can be cooperatively completed between hardware-dependent programs such as BIOS""s and drivers.